arch2ngel

Well, it's been a while since I updated this thing - a LOT has happened. Mostly, it's just been the business of life, so nothing especially special. Holidays in retail, the post Christmas sale, the post sale store reset...as I said, things've been busy. The latest "business," however, involved a pretty big change - I've moved, and as you've no doubt deduced from the Subject of this post, I've moved quite a distance. From Texas to Maine, to be exact. A store manager position opened up in Maine, and I've wanted to return to New England for a while now. (Ever since I left, to be specific.) Anyway, it's been a long trip, but now I'm here, boxes still to be unpacked, work starting tomorrow, and knowing no one in town. Honestly? I've been in this position so many times, it's familiar. I KNOW what to do next, and I'm excited to be back "home."

So...now to get used to the lay of the land, visit the comic store, and get my damn phone turned on!! (They couldn't do it before Tuesday, so I've gotta wait until then.) Oh, and I guess I should unpack a box or two...

I've recently been exposed to "dumbed down" versions of popular physics theories, specifically the Tenth Dimension and String Theory. I always hated the idea that there were other versions of me out there making other decisions. That I didn't pick my own decisions, they were decided by a higher authority so I fit into the grid of "ate breakfast today" or "didn't eat breakfast today."

But I got to thinking - what if PEOPLE are strings, too? Kinda like in the movie "the One" (with Jet Li), but in this case, think of a higher entity made up of the consciousness of all it's "selves" in the miriad dimensions. Our subconscious could be the real consciousness and our consciousness could be part of the subconscious of this bigger being. As we experience Deja Vu, could it be because another of us has done this before? When you have feelings that in no way tie to your physical reality, could it be because another you is experiencing something so strongly that it bleeds over?

I don't know that I buy it, but it would go a LONG way toward making me more comforted by the thought of alternate dimensions were an alternate me exists (because it wouldn't BE an alternate me, but another part of a larger me).

Oh, and for the record, I don't buy the whole Ten Dimensions thing. It jumps from physical dimensions to temporal dimensions with the fourth dimension. Haven't we created models of what a fourth physical dimension would look like? I don't disagree that there could easily be dimensions of time as he imagines them, but I don't buy that they start at the fourth dimension and that physical dimensions end at the third...

So I wanted to go out last night, and I find out that some friends of mine are going to a Karaoke Bar (they always do, so this isn't a surprise, but I asked to join them, so that's a change from the norm.) I sang two songs: "Lightning Crashes" by Live and "Seven" by Prince. It took me a while to get into the rhythm with Lightning Crashes, so I started off HORRIBLE, and ended up doing a very respectable job - but after the start, it put a damper on my performance... Seven I would've done better, but it skipped twice, and they had the wrong words up (this song I know by heart, so I KNOW the words). Still, it was what I wanted - a chance to get out and DO something. But now I have to get up at 6:45 to get to work - in which I'm pulling a 10 hour shift. Yeah, this is gonna be fun. lol

Still, it was worth it.

Figures. I was going to go out drinking with some of the other managers of Yankee Candle tonight. It was Tiffany's birthday yesterday, so we figured we'd go out and celebrate. She's feeling under the weather, so I now have nothing to do on a Friday night. Not that I normally do - I usually just watch Battlestar Galactica and play World of Warcraft (which is what I'll probably end up doing tonight instead). I was just in the mood to get out and do something... Oh well.

There are several events in my life that I can't reconcile with reality as we know it should be.

( Cut For Space - I Ramble A Bit... )

Anyway, an oddness recently has caused me to revisit these weird memories, and I'm feeling rather unsettled by the whole thing. I'm getting another one of those feelings that things are wrong with the universe, and starting to feel it's more than just my imagination - this time, to do with the calendar. I just keep telling myself that so long as I wonder if I'm going crazy, that means that I'm not...

I just read my last post... Wow, am I a moody fuck or what? I mean, granted, I DID have a pretty tiring week, and I JUST needed a break to catch my breath - which I finally got today - but I REALLY do get morbid when I'm exhausted, don't I?

You'd think I wouldn't need a day to rest after having four days off last week (in a row, no less!), but when exhaustion sets in, there's really no arguing with it...

Anyway, enough of that. I HAD a rough week, but I've had a day to relax and rest up now, and I'm ready to go back out into the world again. :)

Okay, so I KNEW I shouldn't've said anything last post. I swear, God forgets about me until I say something stupid like "life's going pretty well!" and then He remembers that He's (apparently) sworn to make my life hell, and throws some shit at me. At least I think it's shit...it's usually white and creamy...

One of my sales associates never showed up for work. In her interview (on Saturday), she said she wanted to start as soon as possible, so when I offered her the position, we scheduled to have her start the next day (on Sunday). So a half hour after she's supposed to show up, I finally call her to see if there's a reason for the delay, or at least to determine what's going on. She picks up and immediately hangs up before I can say a word. I haven't heard from her since. I'm just dumbfounded.

Then, I find out that another store is in need of help. No problem. I volunteer, as my staff doesn't know the old POS system that said store uses (neither do I, but I took this as an opportunity to learn it - never know when that knowledge could come in useful!) Unfortunately, that meant giving up my first weekend off in over 2 months. Still, I'm going to get two days off that week, and I don't mind helping out, so all's good.

Yesterday, it was a crazy day, and I didn't get to do as much as I wanted to, so I figured I'd go in to work today (my day off), work for a couple of hours and head out to enjoy the rest of my day. I was there until FIVE THIRTY. /sigh/ I got a LOT accomplished, and I still have Friday off, but it's been a rough week, to say the least.

I know my body's taking it pretty rough, as I've been getting a decent amount of sleep, but I still managed to sleep for 10 1/2 hours last night - and it's not even 12 hours later, and I'm ready for bed again! So I'm gonna get some sleep now. Thankfully, while there's still plenty of work to do tomorrow, it's MOSTLY done, so I'm hoping to not push myself to exhaustion again tomorrow...

Today was a rather good day. Things have been so crazy at work for so long, and today I realized that the sun has peaked out from the clouds.

Yesterday, I learned that the District Manager didn't visit - he'd visited the day before, where, apparently, he was EXTREMELY pleased with the performance of my employees - especially my Assistant Manager - in my absence (a VERY good thing).

Today, the first Seasonal Sales Associate I hired did her "sales" training, and took to it straight out of the gate, which means that she should do exceptionally well during the holidays. She also approached me when it was slow and asked if there was anything she could do to help. So many people stand around and wait to be told what to do that it's VERY refreshing to have employees who ASK what they can be doing...

AND I hired the last two Seasonal Sales Associates that I need for the holiday. I really wanted to have one of the four Sales Associates dedicated to helping with shipments and the stockroom, and out of the blue, when I was describing that when shipments come in, I'm going to expect my sales associates to help put it out, the first interview of the day said that she preferred doing that. So not only did I get everyone hired, I got two people who can work anytime - one of whom is going to be dedicated to working on shipments, and two others who I'll be focusing on the weekends.

Tomorrow evening, my store has to do a major reset of the displays, and then for the rest of the week I'm going to be busy training my new Sales Associates, but I REALLY have a good feeling that they'll work out and do what I need them to do.

So as I was going over the schedules today for when I'm going to have them working, I realized that I'm getting two days off next week. And not next weekend, but the weekend after that, I'll be able to take my first weekend off since I accepted the position of Store Manager (in July) - and after my mini-vacation this past week, I know I don't have to worry about my store while I'm gone. It's a VERY good feeling...

I'm on a mini-vacation of sorts (it's only two days of vacation, plus my two days off this week - I actually get to take them this week! - and I'm not doing anything but stay at home, relax, and try to get a few things accomplished that I've been having a hard time finding time to do.) The first two days of my vacation were spent just chilling out - mostly at my parents house. Yesterday, on the other hand, I cranked into overdrive!

I went out and got the tires on my truck fixed, which was needed to get the inspection for the vehicle (which I was rather behind in doing - like, months behind - but is now done). I FINALLY got a Sam's Club Membership and proceeded to buy some much needed essentials (and they had the first season of Veronica Mars for under $20 - I've heard so many good things about the show that I figure: I've wasted $20 on worse, I might as well give the show a try!) I also purchased a pair of work shoes online (mine are in very bad repair, so I hope they come in soon!) Of course, I also picked up my comic books for the week, but that's nothing new. Strange how I can always seem to find time to do that! lol

Now I'm on my last day of my vacation, and I'm planning to spend a good deal of time cleaning up my apartment and packing boxes. (I'm moving close to the end of November, and I want to have as much packed as I can - especially since I'm not allowed to take vacation during the holidays - beginning Nov. 1st.)

Of course, tomorrow will be interesting... The District Manager is making a visit to do his monthly Performance Summary, and I've been off for four days. Aught to be interesting to see what my employees have done with this time...

Today was supposed to be the first day of a week's vacation. I had a lot to do during the week, and have been running myself into the ground lately, so I was really looking forward to it. Then I had to give up Saturday, and then Sunday. So my week's vacation was reduced to 4 days, but at least I still got today off, right? Wrong. Had an employee mess up her back and couldn't go in to work, so I had to pull her shift. I'm absolutely exhausted, and am REALLY not looking forward to the next two days (as there's still a LOT to do, and our weekends have been REALLY busy of late, so it's gonna be hard to find time to get it all done).

Still, I'd rather be exhausted than in pain like my Assistant Manager (who is doing much better now, btw - she's adamant that she'll be able to work tomorrow . . . after a trip to physical therapy, an accupuncturist (sp?) and being put on a bunch of drugs.)

It's sad how addicted to Battlestar Galactica I am, though - I'm gonna watch it (I taped it) before I head to bed...

EDIT: It was worth it! Not sure I'll agree when I get up for work in the morning, but right now, I'm saying it was DEFINITELY worth it. lol

I was going through an old list of links, and saw a link to my old, abandoned web site. The last time I put any serious work into it, I was a die-hard Christian. There's a quote I heard once (and am paraphrasing, of course) that said something to the effect that every decision we make changes us enough that we are no longer the person that we were. We remember being that person, so we continue to think we are still that same person. It was really weird to take a look at the person I was - he really does seem to be a completely different person from the man I am now...

Anyway, if you want to check it out, the URL is http://www.geocities.com/dan_worthington/. Be warned, though, this is NOT who I am today - we just share a lot of similar interests.

I started on it last night, but it was 5am, and I NEEDED sleep, so I JUST finished setting up the worthy_comics community. Not much to see there as of yet (I'll be attempting to move my previous ideas over in the next couple of weeks, to start with), but hopefully that won't last too long!

Hey everyone! This is my first post for my new LJ. (I used to use worthycomics, but that seemed to cause some confusion, and I think I'm better off creating a community for Worthy Comics rather than have it be my username...)

For those of you who don't know me, my name is Daniel Worthington. I'm a 31 year old (as of when I wrote this) single caucasian male (how's that for formal?) Growing up, my father was in the military, so we moved around a lot. Then I joined the military (and served for eight years). Now I'm working in specialty retail - which I love (I know, I know - you're supposed to HATE retail, but I really do enjoy it!) Specifically, I'm the store manager at a Yankee Candle Co. retail store.

My DREAM is to be a writer. Well, that's not quite true - I'm a writer now! My dream is to be a PUBLISHED writer. If I had my way, I'd make enough money writing books and/or comic books to support myself, and keep a part time retail job to keep in contact with people. I think it's gonna be a while before that happens, though, so I'll stick with being in charge of a store.

As for LJ - I'm dropping the worthycomics account (I'll leave it up for what I've already posted, but I'll be posting here instead). I plan on setting up a community for Worthy Comics, and when I do, I'll post that here. Anything going on in my life, I'll post here, and any ideas or (crosses fingers) actual news toward getting published, I'll post there.

Um...that's all I've got to talk about for now! I'll write more later...